Aleodor Tabarcea, Stripe: “Failure is life’s way of testing our authenticity. You can’t ask people to be honest, vulnerable, or brave if you’re not willing to make mistakes in front of them.”
Fuckup Nights Bucharest, Vol. XXVII: Richard Joannides – founder of Verita International School, Lavinia Chițu – expert sign language interpreter, and Aleodor Tabarcea – Engineering Manager at Stripe, share career challenges and the lessons learned from them
Bucharest, November 11th, 2025: Richard Joannides – founder of Verita International Schools, Lavinia Chițu – expert sign language interpreter, and Aleodor Tabarcea – Engineering Manager at Stripe and mentor, will take the stage at Fuckup Nights Bucharest (FUN) to talk about their professional challenges and the valuable lessons learned along the way.
The 27th edition of the global event takes place on November 20th, at the Bucharest International School of Management (BISM), on 99 Dacia Boulevard, starting at 6:00 PM.
Fuckup Nights Bucharest is one of the boldest event series, bringing to the public authentic stories about professional failures and encouraging the transformation of mistakes into opportunities for learning and open dialogue.
The event takes place in over 250 cities worldwide and is organized in Bucharest by the communication agency DiFine PR.
“In a world where fear of failure has almost become the norm, the courage or even the pleasure of taking risks seems like a rare act. Yet that’s exactly where growth hides: in the attempts that don’t go perfectly, in the decisions that seem too daring at times, in those moments when you choose to move forward even when you’re not sure you’ll succeed. Sometimes everything will fall apart. But sometimes, it will turn out extraordinary. And for those moments when it does, for the joy and pride that come with success, it’s worth embracing all the failures that came before. Courage doesn’t mean the absence of fear, but the strength to act despite it,” says Diana Iosu, Founder of DiFine PR and organizer of Fuckup Nights Bucharest.
Over the course of about two hours, the speakers will share with the audience authentic stories from defining moments in their professional journeys; experiences that shaped their perspectives and offered valuable lessons for the future.
Participants will have the opportunity to gain insights applicable to their own professional and personal paths and to ask questions directly during the interactive Q&A sessions.
Richard Joannides is the founder of Verita International School, which is set to become the largest private school in Romania, with over 2,000 students. Before moving into education, Richard spent two decades as an entrepreneur and investor in real estate, tourism, and hospitality. His transition toward education was triggered by a deeply personal turning point—when external success no longer aligned with his inner truth. What began as a personal reconstruction became a living expression of purpose: an educational community built on compassion, curiosity, and truth. Today, Richard continues to bridge entrepreneurship and education, promoting resilience, empathy, and well-being as essential elements of leadership and learning.
“Failure is the most honest teacher I’ve ever had. It strips away everything superficial — reputation, ego, security — and leaves you face to face with what’s real. After building success in real estate and tourism, I realized I wasn’t living authentically. I lost my health, my marriage, my money — everything. I found myself at forty-two, starting over and raising my children on my own. But from that collapse, something far deeper than success was born: a search for wisdom, authenticity, and truth. From that place of vulnerability, Verita was born — and with it, true fulfillment,” says Richard Joannides.
Lavinia Chițu is a sign language interpreter and artist, and one of Romania’s most active advocates for accessibility for the Deaf community. A graduate of a vocal performance school, she is the only interpreter in Romania who translates music into sign language. Raised in a Deaf family, she learned sign language in childhood and turned that experience into her life’s mission. She has fought for the rights of the Deaf community, contributing to significant legislative changes and being involved in educational and cultural inclusion projects. In 2019, she translated Romania’s first concert accessible to Deaf audiences. During the pandemic, she continued translating music online and developing accessible projects, and in 2024 she performed on stage at the concerts of international artists such as Coldplay, Rita Ora, Jessie J, Lenny Kravitz, and Sam Smith.
“I don’t think it’s ever been easy for me. I’ve experienced bullying at every stage of my life. I’ve filed and won lawsuits for Deaf rights, even though I received threatening phone calls. I’ve faced countless failures in the projects I designed for the Deaf community, because it’s so hard to build something for a group that has been overlooked so many times, so easily. And although it’s hard to admit, I’m currently in the middle of a fuckup — perhaps the most difficult period of my life — when it feels like nothing is working for the Deaf community in Romania. We have some good accessibility laws, such as Law no. 27/2020 on Romanian Sign Language, which recognizes sign language as the mother tongue of Deaf and/or hard-of-hearing people and grants them the right to use certified interpreters in their interactions with state institutions, but few enforce these provisions, for various reasons. There’s also another law from 2014 requiring TV stations to provide access through sign interpretation. By 2028, 35% of all television programming should be made accessible. But it’s so hard to convince anyone. It’s a real fight for Deaf people to attend a concert, a theater play, or simply watch a show on TV. Still, I’ve tried to be brave in the face of every challenge and every failure, turning my anxiety into the force that drives me forward. And music, along with my parents’ love, has always been my shield and my inspiration,” says Lavinia Chițu.
Aleodor Tabarcea is one of the active leaders of Bucharest’s tech scene, involved in mentoring the next generation of engineers and in reshaping the local community toward product creation. He is currently Engineering Manager at Stripe, where he leads the Operator Tooling team, building internal platforms used globally for automating processes related to risk, money laundering, terrorism, and more. He began his leadership journey early, becoming a manager at just 24 years old — an experience that completely redefined his relationship with work, teams, and the idea of success. Today, he mentors startups, NGOs, and students, convinced that true leadership can only be learned when you have the courage to fail, get up, and try again.
“I believe failure is life’s way of testing our authenticity. And if you haven’t failed, it means you haven’t had the courage to try something truly hard. I’ve learned that you can’t ask people to be honest, vulnerable, or brave if you’re not willing to make mistakes in front of them. In the end, it’s not success that shapes you, but the moments when you rise from the dust and say — ‘Okay, I’m still here, let’s go again,’ inspiring another wave of people in the process,” explains Aleodor Tabarcea.
The event will be moderated by journalist Julia Nagy, known for her extensive experience in radio and television.
Fuckup Nights Bucharest is part of the global event series held in 62 countries around the world, challenging the way we think about failure in our careers. It is equally relevant to small and large entrepreneurs, corporate professionals, freelancers, and students.
A few of the previous editions of Fuckup Nights Bucharest can be seen here: Vol I, Vol II, Vol III, Vol VI, Vol X, Vol XII.
Event partners: BISM (Bucharest International School of Management), Radio Guerrilla, Complice, Centrul EKA, Vitamin Aqua, Bizilive, Psychologies, IQAds, SMARK, IQool, Revista CARIERE, Techcelerator, ROTSA – Romanian Tech Startups Association, SCENTA.
Tickets are available through iabilet.ro.
More details about the event can be found on Facebook, Instagram și LinkedIn.
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About DiFine PR
DiFine PR is a full-service communication agency that combines over 20 years of national and international experience with the satisfaction of creating successful stories. In addition to offering complete PR, communication, and business consulting services, the agency also organizes major tech and business events (e.g. NASA Space Apps Challenge, TechFest, Fuckup Nights Bucharest).
Its client portfolio includes NN, Stefanini, TH Essers, Dulcinella, Seedblink, GapMinder VC, FintechOS, Techcelerator, ROTSA (Romanian Tech Startups Association), Examin.ai, Goldring, Klass Wagen, Eyerim, Bricklofts, Undelucram.ro, Restart Energy, Tema Energy, Verita International School, Bitcoin Romania. Over the six years since its launch, DiFine PR has worked with more than 250 technology startups.
